The new owner hopes to spin off the smaller papers in separate deals by the end of the summer to help finance the purchase of the Register, according to an editor at the paper who was not authorized to speak publicly. These are the Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo.; the Appeal-Democrat in Marysville, Calif.; the Desert Dispatch in Barstow; the Porterville Record, Calif.; the Daily Press in Victorville; and the Sun in Yuma, Ariz.

As subsequently detailed by Bryce Crawford of the Colorado Springs Independent, Tryon was quickly asked by his paper’s content director Carmen Boles to remove the Facebook post. He refused. “Because it’s on my personal account, and from an LA Times article,” he said later via email, “I’m not removing it. It comes down to perception and we could argue that all night long.”

Tryon and Boles exchanged several more emails (as obtained by Crawford), with some observers believing that picking a fight with his boss over this could prove to be more foolish than brave. Sure enough, Tryon tweeted that he now has a meeting set for Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m. Stay tuned.

Update – 06/14/12: Tryon’s 11:30 a.m. meeting was cancelled, but via Twitter, he informed that he has been placed on “administrative leave” and that he will learn – once the internal investigation is complete – whether that leave is paid or unpaid.